Saturday, December 15, 2007

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Baseball Blog - Dec. 11

Hello OC Baseball Fans,

It has been a few weeks since I last wrote about the status of the new baseball facility and about how our eight-week fall season ended. We are currently in our finals week and all of our players are studying hard to complete their finals and then head home for the holidays.

The construction of the new baseball facility had progressed nicely until this bout of icy weather arrived. I have been working with Jackson Greene, an alumnus of OC and the baseball program, to complete the outfield fencing. Jackson is the owner of Greene Country Fence and has graciously consented to assist us with the design and construction of this large and important phase of our new facility. Once we finish the fence construction, we will paint the fence a ballpark green color; it should be one of the very attractive features of our facility.

The other major project that is underway is the construction of our two dugouts. Mike Hancock, owner/operator of Basement Contractors, is overseeing the construction of this project for us. Last week, Mike and I did the layout for the dugout footings, which were dug and poured on Thursday. As soon as the weather clears up, plumbers will rough in the plumbing and then Mike’s crew will pour the floor, walls and ceiling of both dugouts. Both of these dugouts will be large and spacious enough to accommodate a team and all of their gear. Built directly behind each dugout will be a player dressing facility with restrooms, an athletic training room and a coaches’ dressing room. This will be an outstanding addition to our new facility.

We also are currently working on are the completion of the large netted backstop that will span from dugout to dugout, the design and cost estimate of a large center area of chairback seats, and the arrival and installation of a new inning-by-inning scoreboard sponsored by Arvest Bank.

We ended our fall workouts with a five-game intrasquad series by dividing our team into two teams that were coached by our outfield defensive coach, Aaron White, and our strength and conditioning coach, Brian Madden. Our pitching coach, Jared Smith, handled the pitchers for both teams and yours truly umpired the event; I much prefer coaching to umpiring.

I was encouraged by the talent and effort of all our players. It was an even and competitive series won by the White squad three games to two. The deciding run of the series came in the bottom of the seventh inning of the fifth game; a single by Josh Henry with one out scored the winning run.

After the holiday break, we will return to campus to begin classes and workouts on January 7 in preparation for the February 8 opening of our three-game series with Peru State (Neb.). We hope you will make plans now to be at this historic day as the tradition of baseball is brought back to the OC campus.

Until then, we wish you Happy Holidays and hope that the time with your family and friends is an enjoyable one. Please continue to remember the players and coaching staff in your thoughts and prayers as we work hard to prepare for the upcoming season. Also be praying for the completion of our new facility in time for our season opener. Please keep checking in with me for new program updates as we approach the beginning of the season.